Provision of support, maintenance and development services, for a Pobal External Collaboration solution and associated support and services

Short description

Pobal (The Contracting Authority) seeks to establish a single party framework agreement with a suitably qualified tenderer for the provision of hosting, licencing, support, maintenance and development services, for the Contracting Authority’s External Collaboration solution, and associated support and services as per the specific requirements outlined below. Tenderers must be capable of supporting the existing solution, facilitate the expansion of the present functionality, and also have proven capability to support the Contracting Authority with potential future enhancements such as AI technology. The Contracting Authority has a requirement to continue support for their existing External Collaboration solution – only Extranet User Manager (EUM) service is used at the moment. The Contracting Authority uses EUM to enable an external set of users (approx. 30,000) to access training for the Better Start programme on the Contracting Authority’s in-house Learning Management System (LMS). Better Start National Early Years Quality Development is a national initiative established by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Better Start promotes quality and inclusion in Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings for children from birth to six years of age in Ireland – the Contracting Authority coordinates the delivery of Continuing Professional Development to the 30,000 people involved in the Early Learning and Care sector via the LMS system, all year round. The EUM service is also used to enable access for other business systems that the Contracting Authority manage. In these cases, we are using the EUM service to allow external users to register for access to cloud CRM systems (Power Platform systems in this instance). This may grow over time as the Contracting Authority implement more CRM systems for clients. The Contracting Authority have a central ICT team to manage all technical services and will be the recipients of this service. The initial contract is to manage, develop and monitor the current External Collaboration solution; increase the usage and functionality of the External Collaboration solution for a period of two (2) years. The full list of requirements are contained within the tender documents. All responses must be uploaded in a ZIP FILE format.

Additional information

(1) Interested parties must associate their organisation with this competition on the eTenders web site (www.etenders.gov.ie) in order to be included on the mailing list for clarifications and to upload tender responses. To do this you must do the following: Log-in to the eTenders portal; Locate the competition using the Advanced Search by searching under the Contracting Authority or Resource ID. Click on the hyperlink for the competition which will bring you to the CfT Workspace. In the Show CfT Menu for the competition click on the “Expression of Interest in the drop-down menu. Complete the Association with the CfT tab. This will then provide you with a link to Tender under the Show CfT Menu where you can prepare your submission.
(2) When finalising your tender submission please upload your final response as a ZIP file as individual documents may lose their titles if uploaded individually. Also ensure that you receive a message under the status header called Submitted, as the percentage tab does not necessarily imply you have successfully submitted your response.
(3) There is a maximum upload limit of 250MB per file and 500MB per tender submission.
(4) Suppliers should note the following when making their submission suppliers must ensure that they give themselves sufficient time to upload & submit all required documentation before the submission deadline. Suppliers should consider the fact that upload speeds vary and that the new eTenders system operates in a different manner to the previous platform operated by EU-Supply. The submit button will be disable automatically upon the expiration of the response deadline.
(5) If you experience difficulty when uploading documents, please contact the eTenders Support Desk for technical assistance. Email irish-eproc-helpdesk@eurodym.com or Telephone: +353(0)818 001459 (09:00 – 17:00 hours).
(6) Tenders submitted by any other means (including but not limited to email, post, messaging system on etenders or hand delivery) will not be accepted.
(7) All information relating to attachments, including clarifications and changes, will be published on the Irish Government Procurement Opportunities Portal (www.etenders.gov.ie) only. Registration is free of charge. The contracting authority will not accept responsibility for information relayed (or not relayed) via third parties.
(8) All queries regarding this tender requirement or process must be submitted through the Irish Government Procurement Opportunities Portal www.etenders.gov.ie as a specific question. Responses will be circulated to those tenderers that have registered an interest in this notice on www.etenders.gov.ie. The details of the person making a query will not be disclosed when circulating the response
(9) The contracting authority will not be responsible for any costs, charges or expenses incurred by candidates or tenderers. Contract award will be subject to the approval of the competent authorities.
(10) Without prejudice to the principle of equal treatment, the contracting authority is not obliged to engage in a clarification process in respect of the procurement documents with missing or incomplete information. Therefore, respondents are advised to ensure that they return completed documentation in order to avoid the risk of elimination from the competition.
(11) Where applicable, please note in relation to all documents, that where reference is made to a particular standard, make, source, process, trademark, type, or patent, that this is not to be regarded as a de facto requirement. In all such cases it should be understood that such indications are to be treated strictly and solely for reference purposes only, to which the words "or equivalent" will always be appended.
(12) At its absolute discretion, the contracting authority may elect to terminate this procurement process, the framework agreement or any contract awarded under the framework agreement at any time.

In the case of framework agreements, provide justification for any duration exceeding 4 years

The extended duration for the framework has been selected for a number of reasons including:
(a) The embedded and strategic nature of the proposed External Collaboration solution amounts to a core enterprise system and to replace and transition from such a system in a shorter period would cause significant disruption to the workings of the Contracting Authority and the delivery of services.
(b) The financial cost for the Contracting Authority in procuring the services will amount to a significant investment and this investment could not be optimised and the necessary return achieved if the services were required for a shorter period and would ultimately not deliver value for money on behalf of the taxpayer.
The initial contract is to manage, develop and monitor the current External Collaboration solution for a period of two (2) years. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to extend the Term of the initial contract for a period or periods of between twelve (12) and twenty-four (24) months on the same terms and conditions, subject to satisfactory performance and the Contracting Authority’s obligations at law.